Posted by JasonB on December 21, 2009
1) Make Sure Your Content is Clear and Concise
Posting basic facts about your company wont grab the attention of decision makers in the buying cycle, you need to have an angle.
-Post Helpful Content
When people are in the search phase of the buying cycle, they will search online for a company that fits their needs for a B2B partnership. In order catch and reel other companies in, the information on your blog needs to be useful, relevant, and helpful.
-Be Original
Nobody likes a “copycat.” Compile and post unique information relevant to your company. This will, in turn, differentiate your company from others and will ensure optimal B2B lead generation.
2) Make Sure Your Posts Are Consistent
Consistency is key to attracting subscribers. They will sign up to receive future posts if they’ve seen consistently good content.
Constant posting will result in improved search engine ranks. Companies pay thousands to search engine optimization forms to increase their ranks. However, much of the same ranking improvements can be realized by posting regularly. Search engines like new, fresh, relevant content and reward sites by moving them toward the top.
3) Utilize Your Social Media Outlets to Share Your Post:
Blogs can be fed to sites like Facebook and Twitter, and shared at sites such as Digg, Delicious, and Reddit. Feeding your blog to multiple outlets will leave opportunities for increased B2B lead generation and social networking.
-Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basket [Or Your Company's Website]
When companies are in the buying cycle, they’re not going to go directly to company websites. Often times, companies will research online through blogs and forums for advice from their peers on which company will fit their needs the best.
4) Pinpoint Your Market by Listening to What Potential Clients Need
Be sure to decipher where your target markets are in order to feed your blog to the correct social media outlet. For successful B2B lead generation, you must reach them through the correct outlet. Some of your readers may utilize LinkedIn more than Twitter, and some may use forums rather than Facebook.
-Know Your Competition
It is important to give yourself some time to read other company’s blogs. This will give you an idea of what tactics are and are not working, and will help to make you one step ahead of the competition.
5) Make Sure All Eyes Are on Your Company: Utilize Your Keywords
Keywords help “categorize” your content and ensure people looking for such topics find your message. Every outbound piece of content from your organization should contain the words and phrases most likely to attract a decision maker. These words will be what decision makers’ type into social sites to search for information, and what search engines will look for amongst the millions of websites and blogs. If your chosen words match those that decision makers use to find solutions, then you’re headed in the right direction.
Posted by JasonB on December 15, 2009
Although it may not be your company’s style to “tweet”, Facebook, or blog, you need to think about making yourself accessible to other companies who may benefit from your business, and you theirs.
Inbound marketing is a style of marketing that focuses on getting found by customers. And today, Social Media is a leading tool for inbound marketing.
Why Change Now?
Adapting to the variations in marketing tactics doesn’t mean you have to give up your current marketing strategy, it just means you need to be available through a few social media outlets.
Social media makes your company accessible online gives other companies and opportunity to seek you for your service.
1) Improving B2B Relationships
B2B marketing makes up a significant portion of overall online marketing activity. Roughly one-third of all commercial searches on Google are business to business related; more than 50 percent of Google’s target advertisers are B2B, and almost 38 percent of Yahoo’s target advertisements are B2B related.
Being available online helps your company to extend its lines of communication and stay in close contact with current and potential clients. Using online videos, pictures, and event calendars can help engage possible B2B relationships.
2) Increasing Visibility
When a potential buyers are in the market for a new product, they will often post a question online asking their peers which products are the best. You need to make sure that when that time comes, your name is mentioned first. You never know where your customers are online; LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Companies who start or participate in these discussions in an informative and helpful manner get instant credibility and a foot-in-the-door with decision makers.
3) Achieving Maximum ROI
Adapting to inbound marketing will not only increase your visibility online, it will generate more leads for your business. Getting exposure early in the buying cycle will increase your networking opportunities and profitability.
You Don’t Have To Do It Alone…
Social media is always changing so consider having a specialist maintain your sites and work with your company to help determine key steps and strategies. Your specialist can also help you stay ahead of the competition. Specialists can help you:
1) Maintain your social sites.
2) Find relevant conversations pertaining to your company or industry.
3) Author content for your blog and share with online communities.
Many people jump on Google to find the answer to a specific question or to prospect business relationships. Being a part of several key social media sites will help to increase your search engine optimization thus making you more visible online.
It’s time to take the plunge and begin social media marketing to take your business to new heights.
Posted by JasonB on December 10, 2009
As a new era of B2B lead generation arises, it is important to familiarize yourself with the benefits of social media. Facebook – what was once an online community for college students – has come to the forefront and morphed into an online marketing powerhouse. If utilized correctly, Facebook can give your company visibility to a plethora of target markets and help you to become a savvy professional.
To Begin
Create a company profile on Facebook. This will give your company an opportunity to stay competitive and deliver daily messages to your target markets to increase business to business leads.
Engage Your Fans.
Facebook allows your company to post videos, pictures, lets fans participate in discussions and can include all of the company’s viable information. Once they’ve visited a page, make them interested in learning more about your company.
Promote Your Company’s Interests.
Establish yourself – join groups and comment on topics. The more visible you are in online communities, the more familiar potential clients will become with your name, thus driving them to inquire more about your company.
Move Your Blog Through Various Social Media Outlets.
While using a blog is effective , it’s now time to ensure your company has maxim exposure. Before starting your blog, do a little research. Set up a Google Reader account; this will give you an opportunity to see what other people in your field are writing about, and what might work best for your company. Once you’ve become comfortable with your writing style, start your blog- but don’t stop there. Have it linked to your Facebook page – traffic from the blog will drive readers to your page, and traffic from your page will drive them to your blog increasing your company’s visibility.
Utilize Your Cellphone.
Once you’ve established a fan base on your Facebook page, encourage your readers to access your page from their mobile phones. Accessing your page through a mobile device will give you an opportunity to update your company’s information on-the-go, and will give you an opportunity to network with your fans while they’re away from their computer.
Outsource Your Social Media Marketing.
Diving head-first into the social media world can be time-consuming and confusing for some. Outsourcing your social media marketing gives you the opportunity to focus on your projects at hand while Gateway Business Development takes an in-depth look at your social media marketing / B2B lead generation needs.
Posted by JasonB on December 9, 2009
Is Social Media just a buzz or is it the real deal? As a business professional, you’ve probably grown increasing familiar with words like Social Media, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. You’ve heard the hype, but what can your company gain from them? Better yet – how do you start?
How do you take the plunge into the social media world?
Simply creating a profile on Twitter and Facebook is not the recipe for instant success as some claim. Tools don’t equal prospects; you need to have someone to do your social media work, and most importantly – something to say. Social Media is a marketing catalyst for your company’s ideas. Your target market must have something to listen to first; you need to have something to offer them.
Social Media isn’t easy to and can’t be run by a generic computer program. It is very time consuming; personal approach is needed in order to successfully reach your target market. A specialist is required to decipher what content to push and what speaks to people. Your company’s information will be broadcasted through a number of outlets, so warm body is needed to tailor your message to specific markets.
You don’t have to start from scratch…
If your company has a file cabinet full of white papers and research you’re already well on your way. You’ve got the information, now all you need is someone to implement it online.
What can you gain?
Social media is not going to automatically blow your sales numbers through the roof. The main objective of social media is for your company to reach and gain new prospects – some of which you may had never networked with offline.
How do you now when it’s working?
Successful social media will impact your traffic and add to your prospects list. You’ll know people are connecting with your company when you witness:
-Your website’s traffic increases.
-You gain more fans/members/subscribers.
-People are reading what you have to say.
In closing, just remember that your objective is to increase online traffic to build your prospects list, and that social media can’t do it alone – your company needs to have a solid message.
Posted by JasonB on October 16, 2009
4 times this week alone I’ve spoken with decision makers at businesses who’ve said, “We think we need to get into social media, but have no idea where to start”. We’ll, I’ll go ahead and answer that one:
Step 1: Start with what’s already working…for your competition.
Why reinvent the wheel? If companies in your industry are having success with social media (i.e. getting exposure and traffic), it is probably a good idea to mimic what they’re doing. But how do you know what’s working for them? Search Facebook for competitors. How many Fans do they have on their Facebook page? If they have a lot, what content is being published on that page that is attracting or keeping them as Fans? Next, search on YouTube or other video websites for competitors or industry keywords. Observe what videos have been viewed more than others. What message do they convey? Go to LinkedIn and search for competitors. Observe how many employees have profiles, and if those profiles display recommendations or answered questions. Lastly, search blogs (Google Blog Search works great) for competition. See if (1) your competition publishes a blog and (2) if they are mentioned on other blogs. Observing how many comments or subscribers are displayed on a competitive blog will shed light on how many readers are visiting, so if your competitors blog has traffic, observe the topics and why they seem popular.
The output of Step 1 is to understand what websites (other than their own) AND message your competition is using to attract visitors (or views, or Fans, etc).
Step 2: Identify what websites your target market is using
If your goal in using social media is to generate new leads, then you need to understand where your target market goes online so that you can place a message there. One straight-forward method is to simply ask existing clients what websites they personally visit during their day-to-day activities. Do they use industry-related websites that might attract similar decisions makers at other organizations? Next, search blogs (again, Google Blog Search can help) for keyphrase your target audience may use. Observe which blogs are ranked highest, how frequently they publish posts, how many people comment on each post, and how many subscribers are listed (sometimes published). Blogs with frequent posts and comments will have more traffic, thus a better target for your message. Finally, visit some Q&A sites like Yahoo Answers or LinkedIn Q&A and search for questions pertaining to resource websites….questions like “what websites can provide me with HR-related information on employee improvement”. Very likely, someone will have answered that question with a link to another website used by your target market.
The output of Step 2 should be a list of websites where your organization can either place messaging or participate in discussions.
Step 3: Take an internal gut-check of resources
Let’s now pretend that you’ve identified that you need a Facebook page and to participate on blogs. So who at your company will take the task of communicating with your prospective clients, and what information will/can they provide? The basic qualities of a good social networker are (1) the ability to write well, (2) a good understanding of using the Internet and (3) time to invest in searching for and engaging in conversations.
Something to strongly consider…social media takes time. It is an investment, just like building relationships, because that’s what it is. Realizing ROI will take a while, so in light of that, consider cost of the person you appoint as your social media point person. May I suggest that you don’t have a salesperson do it for a variety of reasons. First, the moment salespeople have a deal to chase, they’ll abandon the tedious and time consuming task of social networking. Second, they’re expensive, and answering questions on LinkedIn probably isn’t the best use of their time.
Instead, consider having a lower-salaried employee invest their time in exploring social networks. They can either engage in low-level conversations with peers and direct them back to your organizations website, or if they stumble upon a true lead, simply email it to the sales department. Either way, your investment is their time.
Let’s now consider what content your organization will spread to your Facebook page and blogs. Your target marketing probably isn’t looking for a sales brochure or case studies on why your company is the best. What they need is USEFUL, RELEVENT information that helps them during their workday. Identify what information your company has in its wheelhouse in the form of research papers, white papers, sales decks, etc and see if you can create some short, helpful blurbs about topics that relate to your target decision maker. If you give them something that they find interesting or useful, your chances of being the top-of-mind brand when they enter the buying cycle dramatically increases.
Conclusion: Following the steps of (1) observing your competitions successful use of social media, (2) finding your target market online and (3) putting a cost-effective resource on the case for your company should get you started in the social media game.
As usual, we hope this post helps. Please subscribe to our blog for future posts on generating leads for your business.
